Where did we go wrong? This looks like an awesome way to travel….. https://t.co/ZASsVuhyes
— Nick DuCate (@Nick_duCat) June 28, 2025
This is a first-class-only car and most people would not have traveled this way. It’s misleading. The ticket would’ve been like $1,000 in today’s dollars, depending on origin and destination, of course. But that’d not be far off.
Also, the Golden Age of rail travel was not in the 1950s. It was in the 1930s and 1940s. After WWII, rail travel went downhill sharply as roads improved and then air travel got better and cheaper. Passengers using rail peaked in 1944 (which partially had to do with all the peregrination due to the war).
By the way, this is a publicity shot of the Astra Dome lounge‑observation cars introduced in 1955 and used on the Union Pacific line. These cars as I said above allowed first-class passengers only. This was not how rail travel or the past looked for most people. (Notice any black people? Hmm, wonder why.)